...well, it's AMAZING.
Friday, July 30, 2010
Good things recently
Spending time with my little sister is a rare treat but always a blast. When it happens in Greece...
...well, it's AMAZING.
...well, it's AMAZING.
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Cold Snap: In place of an introduction
I am at a bit of a loss for words right now... so I'm just going to go ahead and say it: The night I heard the news about my Grandmother's death, I started re-reading Cold Snap. I hope this doesn't strike you as too morbid. It wasn't like that.
I just needed to hear somebody else talk about her and her way of living... but do it with kindness and humor and compassion. I was lucky to have just the thing.
I love Cold Snap for so many reasons... but, mostly, I love it because it takes a close look at people who are often left unnoticed.
- Simple women: kind and smart but not especially daring nor willing to draw attention to themselves
- Women who could rule the world, really, but due to various circumstances find themselves living small lives. Meaningful, but small.
- Men who simply don't know any better.
That's the kind of people that my Grandma's world was populated with and she navigated it with so much grace and humor. Never pretending it was better than it was nor fretting over how bad it could get. She was just so content with her life, always able to look past the sweat and tears and see the humor underneath it all.
Did you find the residents of Old Mountain as compelling as I did?
Did you find them sweet, charming, brave in their small-town ways?
Did you find them pathetic?
I am very curious to hear what you guys thought about the book and, PLEASE, don't be creeped out by my oh-so-personal introduction. Just let me know what you thought. In the meantime, I will be working on some questions to the author. Cynthia Phoel has kindly accepted to humor us and discuss her debut novel with our bookclub. Hooray!
P.S. If you have a blog, please write a review of Cold Snap and publish it on your site. Then send me a note to let me know so that I can let people know about it! Let's try to get as many people involved as we can! Please help me spread the word.
I just needed to hear somebody else talk about her and her way of living... but do it with kindness and humor and compassion. I was lucky to have just the thing.
I love Cold Snap for so many reasons... but, mostly, I love it because it takes a close look at people who are often left unnoticed.
- Simple women: kind and smart but not especially daring nor willing to draw attention to themselves
- Women who could rule the world, really, but due to various circumstances find themselves living small lives. Meaningful, but small.
- Men who simply don't know any better.
That's the kind of people that my Grandma's world was populated with and she navigated it with so much grace and humor. Never pretending it was better than it was nor fretting over how bad it could get. She was just so content with her life, always able to look past the sweat and tears and see the humor underneath it all.
Did you find the residents of Old Mountain as compelling as I did?
Did you find them sweet, charming, brave in their small-town ways?
Did you find them pathetic?
I am very curious to hear what you guys thought about the book and, PLEASE, don't be creeped out by my oh-so-personal introduction. Just let me know what you thought. In the meantime, I will be working on some questions to the author. Cynthia Phoel has kindly accepted to humor us and discuss her debut novel with our bookclub. Hooray!
P.S. If you have a blog, please write a review of Cold Snap and publish it on your site. Then send me a note to let me know so that I can let people know about it! Let's try to get as many people involved as we can! Please help me spread the word.
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Love and loss
My grandmother passed away less than a week after we last saw her. She had been sick for about a year and her death was not completely unexpected, yet, it caught all of us by surprise. She was the most optimistic, {bossy}, fun-loving person you would ever meet which is why, I think, we all just kept waiting for her to get better. We didn't think she would allow this to happen to her, she had PLANS. This is a picture that Kyle took last summer before she got sick. I remember her saying, "I don't think this will be a good picture. The sun was in my face and I forgot to smile". For her, no smile = bad.
These last few days have been really weird for me. I know this would have been hard anyway but it's especially difficult because of the distance. I just keep thinking how much I wish I had spent more time with her and poor grandpa who's reported he doesn't know what to do now because she was always telling him what to do. I wish I had gotten to know her better, visited more often. I also can't help but imagine what my parents' life will be when they are my grandparents' age and need help but I would probably still be living in the States. That part is really hard.
The really odd thing about this whole experience is that I feel that all the answers to my questions are actually coming from the very person that I just lost: Head up. It's all a part of life. Enjoy what you have. Don't worry. Don't be jealous. Be kind. Eat. Drink. Sing at the top of your lungs. Dance when your knees hurt. Have opinions. Ask for help. If that doesn't work, boss people around.
These last few days have been really weird for me. I know this would have been hard anyway but it's especially difficult because of the distance. I just keep thinking how much I wish I had spent more time with her and poor grandpa who's reported he doesn't know what to do now because she was always telling him what to do. I wish I had gotten to know her better, visited more often. I also can't help but imagine what my parents' life will be when they are my grandparents' age and need help but I would probably still be living in the States. That part is really hard.
The really odd thing about this whole experience is that I feel that all the answers to my questions are actually coming from the very person that I just lost: Head up. It's all a part of life. Enjoy what you have. Don't worry. Don't be jealous. Be kind. Eat. Drink. Sing at the top of your lungs. Dance when your knees hurt. Have opinions. Ask for help. If that doesn't work, boss people around.
Monday, June 28, 2010
Cold Snap Give-Away Winners
I'm about to annouce The Migrant Bookclub's first ever book give-away winners!!! I listed all contestants and assigned numbers to their names. I then used a random number generator and pulled two numbers. Our winners are....Drum-roll, please!
Anna Tzvetkova and Elica
CONGRATULATIONS, ladies! I am so so excited that you will be reading along! Elica, please email me your mailing address so I can put your copy of Cold Snap in the mail today!
Big thanks to everyone who entered the contest here and on Facebook. I wish I could mail books to all of you. Even though you didn't win, I really hope you would still go ahead and order your own copy. The book is available on Amazon (which would also deliver to Bulgaria)!
Happy reading!!!
Anna Tzvetkova and Elica
CONGRATULATIONS, ladies! I am so so excited that you will be reading along! Elica, please email me your mailing address so I can put your copy of Cold Snap in the mail today!
Big thanks to everyone who entered the contest here and on Facebook. I wish I could mail books to all of you. Even though you didn't win, I really hope you would still go ahead and order your own copy. The book is available on Amazon (which would also deliver to Bulgaria)!
Happy reading!!!
Sunday, June 27, 2010
{Bulgaria} Anxiety and Free Books
Kyle and I are leaving for Bulgaria on Tuesday. We are both excited, of course, but I'm also a tiny bit anxious. We were home around this time last year and in the months that followed our trip, my grandparents have been getting sicker and sicker to the point where everyone has started preparing for death, my dad's business (subcontracting with real estate developers) has been (understandably) doing really bad, and for the first time since coming to the State (1999), I really feel like my life is not there anymore.
That's a strange feeling to acknowledge. Contrary to the experience of many of my friends, I never really wanted to come to the States. Things just sort of happened that way and I ended up following in love (with a man AND with the country). However, I never lost touch with my friends. In fact, my best friends are Bulgarians living in Bulgaria who I met AFTER I moved to the States.
I'm not sure what has triggered the shift. I think it is not unrelated to finally settling down after so many years of nomadic existence. But that's not all. In the past year I have felt more irritated and exasperated with Bulgarian politics, social conservatism and provincialism. THIS has SOME to do with the conversations on my feminist blog but that's not all. It has to do with the pettiness of Bulgarian media, the total lack of vision in governance, the numerous attempts at creating "The Bulgarian X" as opposed to starting something genuine and authentic. I realize that this sounds both vague and pessimistic and probably, makes little sense to those of you who have not visited Bulgaria yet. Those of you who have... please let me know if you feel the same way.
The ONE thing that has actually helped me cope and clear my head about this is Cynthia Phoel's book, Cold Snap. I read it a few months ago while the book was still being edited. Now that it's out, I am packing my copy for our trip. The book is a collection of related short stories set in a small town, not much unlike the one where I grew up, in the mid-1990s. Many of the characters sound and feel like people I know well: hardworking women who manage, nurture and pull entire families forward; men who don't mean harm but end up harming many; eccentric and creative types who anywhere else in the world would be recognized for their free spirit and authenticity but in Bulgaria end up being laughed at and turning to knitting and mushroom-picking for release.
When I first read Cynthia's book, I just loved how brutally honest it was. I was simply smitten by her ability to describe a life both gritty AND tender, patriarchal AND loving, provincial but remarkably touching. In a way, the book really changed the way I think of Bulgaria and triggered a shift in the relationship I have with the stuff that has bothered me the most. That's why I am so excited that our BookClub is reading the book too!
Kyle and I leave for Bulgaria on Tuesday. Before we go, though, I would like to send a courtesy copy of Cold Snap to two How to Marry a Bulgarian readers. I only ask that if you do end up with a copy of the book, you promise to be active in our discussion of it towards the end of July! For a chance at winning a free copy, please leave a comment under this post with your name and email address. This will be a quick contest, since I need to mail the books tomorrow.
Good luck and happy reading.
That's a strange feeling to acknowledge. Contrary to the experience of many of my friends, I never really wanted to come to the States. Things just sort of happened that way and I ended up following in love (with a man AND with the country). However, I never lost touch with my friends. In fact, my best friends are Bulgarians living in Bulgaria who I met AFTER I moved to the States.
I'm not sure what has triggered the shift. I think it is not unrelated to finally settling down after so many years of nomadic existence. But that's not all. In the past year I have felt more irritated and exasperated with Bulgarian politics, social conservatism and provincialism. THIS has SOME to do with the conversations on my feminist blog but that's not all. It has to do with the pettiness of Bulgarian media, the total lack of vision in governance, the numerous attempts at creating "The Bulgarian X" as opposed to starting something genuine and authentic. I realize that this sounds both vague and pessimistic and probably, makes little sense to those of you who have not visited Bulgaria yet. Those of you who have... please let me know if you feel the same way.
The ONE thing that has actually helped me cope and clear my head about this is Cynthia Phoel's book, Cold Snap. I read it a few months ago while the book was still being edited. Now that it's out, I am packing my copy for our trip. The book is a collection of related short stories set in a small town, not much unlike the one where I grew up, in the mid-1990s. Many of the characters sound and feel like people I know well: hardworking women who manage, nurture and pull entire families forward; men who don't mean harm but end up harming many; eccentric and creative types who anywhere else in the world would be recognized for their free spirit and authenticity but in Bulgaria end up being laughed at and turning to knitting and mushroom-picking for release.
When I first read Cynthia's book, I just loved how brutally honest it was. I was simply smitten by her ability to describe a life both gritty AND tender, patriarchal AND loving, provincial but remarkably touching. In a way, the book really changed the way I think of Bulgaria and triggered a shift in the relationship I have with the stuff that has bothered me the most. That's why I am so excited that our BookClub is reading the book too!
Kyle and I leave for Bulgaria on Tuesday. Before we go, though, I would like to send a courtesy copy of Cold Snap to two How to Marry a Bulgarian readers. I only ask that if you do end up with a copy of the book, you promise to be active in our discussion of it towards the end of July! For a chance at winning a free copy, please leave a comment under this post with your name and email address. This will be a quick contest, since I need to mail the books tomorrow.
Good luck and happy reading.
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
The Migrant Bookclub Reading List
Thank you all so much for voting on titles for The Migrant Bookclub! I am so excited about this and promise you to make it as fun and exciting as possible!!! Here's the deal.
First, please take a look at the top 12 titles we selected to read. The percentages add up to more than 100% because people were allowed to vote on more than one title at a time.
12. "How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents" by Julia Alvarez: 20%
11. "Love and Obstacles" by Alexandar Hemon: 23%
10. "The Ministry of Pain" by Dubravka Ugresic: 23%
9. "One more year" by Sana Kasikov: 23%
8. "Solo" by Rana Dasgupta: 25%
7. "Apricots from Chernobil" by Josip Novakovic: 28%
6. "Netherland" by Joseph O'Neil: 28%
5. "Cold Snap" by Cynthia M. Phoel: 28%
4. "The Foreign Student" by Susan Choi: 38%
3. "In America" by Susan Sontag: 38%
2. "Ignorance" by Milan Kundera: 45%
1. "Street Without a Name" by Kapka Kassabova: 45%
AWESOME LIST, no? A little Easter-Europe-heavy BUT. Don't fret! You are NOT going to be bored by these titles, I assure you. Plus, try to think if you ever met a boring Eastern European. There.
After I listed the top 12 titles, I used a random number generator and obtained a sequence of titles. The sequence is as follows:
10
11
5
9
2
1
4
3
6
12
7
8
I use my host power to flip titles 10 and 5 (because I am super excited about y'all reading Cold Snap!!!) and came up with our final reading list for the next 12 months!
July 2010: "Cold Snap" by Cynthia M. Phoel
August 2010: "Love and Obstacles" by Alexandar Hemon
September 2010: "The Ministry of Pain" by Dubravka Ugresic
October 2010: "One more year" by Sana Kasikov
November 2010: "Ignorance" by Milan Kundera
December 2010: "Street Without a Name" by Kapka Kassabova
January 2011: "The Foreign Student" by Susan Choi
February 2011: "In America" by Susan Sontag
March 2011: "Netherland" by Joseph O'Neil
April 2011: "How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents" by Julia Alvarez
May 2011: "Apricots from Chernobil" by Josip Novakovic
June 2011: "Solo" by Rana Dasgupta
I am currently doing research and in a couple of days will publish a simple list of Migrant Bookclub Guidelines to help us stay on track. If you have participated in bookclubs and have any ideas/recommendations about making this thing run smoothly, PLEASE let me know. Advice on reading schedules, deadlines, posting discussion questions and reading guides are more than welcome!
In addition to all of the above, I am also hoping to be able to interview as many of our writers as I can and I am REALLY hoping to be able to host live Twitter Chats with as many of them as possible. Let's all keep our fingers crossed on this one. If you happen to have our boy Milan's number on speed-dial, by all means let me know. I would love to give him a buzz.
While I'm getting all our ducks in order, you make sure you go ahead and order your copy of Cold Snap and help me spread the word about our little adventure.
THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH FOR DOING THIS WITH ME! You are THE BEST!
First, please take a look at the top 12 titles we selected to read. The percentages add up to more than 100% because people were allowed to vote on more than one title at a time.
12. "How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents" by Julia Alvarez: 20%
11. "Love and Obstacles" by Alexandar Hemon: 23%
10. "The Ministry of Pain" by Dubravka Ugresic: 23%
9. "One more year" by Sana Kasikov: 23%
8. "Solo" by Rana Dasgupta: 25%
7. "Apricots from Chernobil" by Josip Novakovic: 28%
6. "Netherland" by Joseph O'Neil: 28%
5. "Cold Snap" by Cynthia M. Phoel: 28%
4. "The Foreign Student" by Susan Choi: 38%
3. "In America" by Susan Sontag: 38%
2. "Ignorance" by Milan Kundera: 45%
1. "Street Without a Name" by Kapka Kassabova: 45%
AWESOME LIST, no? A little Easter-Europe-heavy BUT. Don't fret! You are NOT going to be bored by these titles, I assure you. Plus, try to think if you ever met a boring Eastern European. There.
After I listed the top 12 titles, I used a random number generator and obtained a sequence of titles. The sequence is as follows:
10
11
5
9
2
1
4
3
6
12
7
8
I use my host power to flip titles 10 and 5 (because I am super excited about y'all reading Cold Snap!!!) and came up with our final reading list for the next 12 months!
July 2010: "Cold Snap" by Cynthia M. Phoel
August 2010: "Love and Obstacles" by Alexandar Hemon
September 2010: "The Ministry of Pain" by Dubravka Ugresic
October 2010: "One more year" by Sana Kasikov
November 2010: "Ignorance" by Milan Kundera
December 2010: "Street Without a Name" by Kapka Kassabova
January 2011: "The Foreign Student" by Susan Choi
February 2011: "In America" by Susan Sontag
March 2011: "Netherland" by Joseph O'Neil
April 2011: "How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents" by Julia Alvarez
May 2011: "Apricots from Chernobil" by Josip Novakovic
June 2011: "Solo" by Rana Dasgupta
I am currently doing research and in a couple of days will publish a simple list of Migrant Bookclub Guidelines to help us stay on track. If you have participated in bookclubs and have any ideas/recommendations about making this thing run smoothly, PLEASE let me know. Advice on reading schedules, deadlines, posting discussion questions and reading guides are more than welcome!
In addition to all of the above, I am also hoping to be able to interview as many of our writers as I can and I am REALLY hoping to be able to host live Twitter Chats with as many of them as possible. Let's all keep our fingers crossed on this one. If you happen to have our boy Milan's number on speed-dial, by all means let me know. I would love to give him a buzz.
While I'm getting all our ducks in order, you make sure you go ahead and order your copy of Cold Snap and help me spread the word about our little adventure.
THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH FOR DOING THIS WITH ME! You are THE BEST!
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Teaching English (ESL) in Bulgaria and other questions
I get a lot of questions from readers who are interested in teaching English in Bulgaria. I'm re-posting my answer to one such question that I got on FormSring, I hope it helps.
Question:
I want to teach English as a second language in Bulgaria but I don't know anything about the standard of living there nor if they need English-Bulgarian speaking teachers. Can you give me some advice or just your thoughts on the matter?
Answer:
I don't know much about this but I have an idea. Why don't you contact Berlitz? The school has a great reputation in Bulgaria (and worldwide, I believe). If they don't need teachers at the moment, they might be able to point you in the right direction. You can email the Sofia office directly at sofia@berlitz.bg. Also, you can search for other ESL teachers in Bulgaria online (both for standard of living/professional questions). You'd be surprised how many blogs you'd be able to find. Here are some of my favorite:
Which reminds me that I recently discovered that in an attempt to be better organized, I've been stashing how-to-marry emails in a separate folder of my email account that I FORGOT ABOUT! If you wrote me an email and never heard back from me, PLEASE FORGIVE ME! I wasn't being rude. I just spaced out. I am working through all the emails and you will be hearing from me SOON.
Question:
I want to teach English as a second language in Bulgaria but I don't know anything about the standard of living there nor if they need English-Bulgarian speaking teachers. Can you give me some advice or just your thoughts on the matter?
Answer:
I don't know much about this but I have an idea. Why don't you contact Berlitz? The school has a great reputation in Bulgaria (and worldwide, I believe). If they don't need teachers at the moment, they might be able to point you in the right direction. You can email the Sofia office directly at sofia@berlitz.bg. Also, you can search for other ESL teachers in Bulgaria online (both for standard of living/professional questions). You'd be surprised how many blogs you'd be able to find. Here are some of my favorite:
- Window to Bulgaria: MY FAVORITE. Check out his Baba of the Week series. Peace Corps guy.
- Karolinka in Bulgaria: English teacher at The American College in Sofia, I believe.
- Bulgarianna: another Peace Corps blog. She doesn't update very often but every entry is a treat. Check out her recent story about her little friend learning Bulgarian. So sweet!
Which reminds me that I recently discovered that in an attempt to be better organized, I've been stashing how-to-marry emails in a separate folder of my email account that I FORGOT ABOUT! If you wrote me an email and never heard back from me, PLEASE FORGIVE ME! I wasn't being rude. I just spaced out. I am working through all the emails and you will be hearing from me SOON.
Monday, June 7, 2010
Vote on your favorite titles for The Migrant Bookclub!
Thank you all so much for your enthusiasm over The Migrant Bookclub! Please vote for your favorite titles. The top 12 books with the largest number of votes will be our reading list for the next year!
You have until Thursday to vote! Please let me know if you have any questions or comments! Wheeeee!
You have until Thursday to vote! Please let me know if you have any questions or comments! Wheeeee!
Saturday, June 5, 2010
Recommend a book for The Migrant Bookclub
If you haven't sent me your recommendations for The Migrant Bookclub, please do so!
Tomorrow I'm going to compile a list of all recommended titles and we are all going to vote on our top 12 books. I reserve the right to select one of the books. Ha!
Hurry! We are already a little behind!
Tomorrow I'm going to compile a list of all recommended titles and we are all going to vote on our top 12 books. I reserve the right to select one of the books. Ha!
Hurry! We are already a little behind!
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Be good! Be kind! Support Sofia Pride 2010!
Most of the time, I try to keep politics out of the conversations we have here. I know we all come from such different backgrounds, that it's impossible to agree on the BIG issues: sex, politics, religion. All that being said, I also know that despite our differences, we all agree that everyone has the right to live a fulfilling life and that it's up to them to define what that means.
In less than a month, a group of 300, maybe 400 people will go out on the street in Sofia and politely ask Bulgarians to let them be. They will be supported by a small number of foreign diplomatic missions (USA, France, Germany), some local non-profits, some bigger European LGBT rights groups, a handful of bloggers. The local media will cover the event in a mostly sensationalist manner. Very few Bulgarian politicians will comment. The ones that will, will mostly make homophobic remarks and you would wish they never spoke. The Sofia mayor's office will do the bare minimum to support the event and will discourage the organizers from turning the event into a celebration. They will do a good job of providing enough cops to secure the route but they won't do much else.
So, today I ask you a favor.
Please support Sofia Pride 2010. It's only our 3rd one, so it's small. It's not going to be like anything you might have experienced in Paris, Berlin, or New York. It's definitely NOT San Francisco. But it's a lot more controversial and even more IMPORTANT. It's happening despite resistance. On the day of... it will be scary for some of the participants but they will be there because despite the grimness, there ARE people in Bulgaria who Love Equality and Support Diversity.
Currently, the organizers are still trying to raise funds to put together the best possible event they can. They need less than $4000 and we can help them meet that goal. Please make a small donation via PayPal and share this request with your friends on Facebook and Twitter. If you are planning to make a donation, please make a pledge at the bottom of this entry!
I know we are all cynical and disillusioned in many ways, but kindness, solidarity and compassion still go a long way. Be good. Be kind. HELP!
In less than a month, a group of 300, maybe 400 people will go out on the street in Sofia and politely ask Bulgarians to let them be. They will be supported by a small number of foreign diplomatic missions (USA, France, Germany), some local non-profits, some bigger European LGBT rights groups, a handful of bloggers. The local media will cover the event in a mostly sensationalist manner. Very few Bulgarian politicians will comment. The ones that will, will mostly make homophobic remarks and you would wish they never spoke. The Sofia mayor's office will do the bare minimum to support the event and will discourage the organizers from turning the event into a celebration. They will do a good job of providing enough cops to secure the route but they won't do much else.
So, today I ask you a favor.
Please support Sofia Pride 2010. It's only our 3rd one, so it's small. It's not going to be like anything you might have experienced in Paris, Berlin, or New York. It's definitely NOT San Francisco. But it's a lot more controversial and even more IMPORTANT. It's happening despite resistance. On the day of... it will be scary for some of the participants but they will be there because despite the grimness, there ARE people in Bulgaria who Love Equality and Support Diversity.
Currently, the organizers are still trying to raise funds to put together the best possible event they can. They need less than $4000 and we can help them meet that goal. Please make a small donation via PayPal and share this request with your friends on Facebook and Twitter. If you are planning to make a donation, please make a pledge at the bottom of this entry!
I know we are all cynical and disillusioned in many ways, but kindness, solidarity and compassion still go a long way. Be good. Be kind. HELP!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
